Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Effect Of Translating “Big Words”: Anglophone Translation And Reception Of Ahmadou Kourouma’S Novel Allah N’Est Pas Obligé, Vivan Steemers

Vivan Steemers

The inter-European language translator of post-independence African novels often faces considerably more challenges than the average literary translator. Many Anglophone and Francophone African novelists attempt to “decolonize” the colonial discourse, by resorting to a “subverted” version of the Europhone language: they tailor it to African reality and base it on the syntax, the lexicon, and the rhythm of their indigenous language. The translator of these texts tends to “normalize” the linguistic innovations of the source text, thus creating a smoother reading experience for the target audience. This paper examines Frank Wynne’s translation into English of Allah n’est pas obligé, and …